Future...made of metal?

[draqon]

You know how we all seen those space movies, the metal carcasses of gigantic spaceships approaching metal satellites that span around metal stations hovering about the atmospher-less planet were metal buildings pave the way of the eye view to the horizon.

http://www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/jung_ho_park_ships_2.jpg


well...how about we, forget about metal alltogether.

metal is surely strong...but we are not just going to have to put so much effort and time into building this gigantic machines/buildings/vehicles. Yes the robots will do it...but even with robots, just not fast enough and not enough resources.

I present to you a totally different future, a future were metal is almost absent from the man's creations. And everything can be assembled on the go, a future of carbon fiber and aerogel.

Carbonfiber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_fiber)
http://www.voomtuning.com/files/hoods/Honda_S2000_2000-2006_Models/Style_1_Carbon_Fiber_Hood.jpg

Aerogel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel)
http://www.geekologie.com/2007/08/22/aerogel-frozen-smoke.jpg

Spaceships made out of carbon fiber, stations made out of translucent aerogel...stronger, lighter, durable, much faster to assemble...this is the future. not metal.

[cosmictraveler]

Why not make them out of a living organism instead . That way they could repair themselves and adjust to whatever environment they are used in? :shrug:

[Nasor]

Why not make them out of a living organism instead . That way they could repair themselves and adjust to whatever environment they are used in? :shrug:
Because it would suck if your building got sick and died?

[draqon]

true Nasor...

having them made out of cells would be a quite good thing...but there are many disadvantages to that, such as inability to have large structures many stories high withstand pressure of the construction...even the tallest tree is not the size of empire state building, a creation of the neanderthal age of human space expansion.

[joepistole]

Yep carbon fiber is the wave of the future. Metal is so old school.

[draqon]

Yep carbon fiber is the wave of the future. Metal is so old school.

yes but what do you think of aerogel?

[Read-Only]

yes but what do you think of aerogel?

It certainly has it's place(s) - but as material for large constructon applications, no way! It's FAR, FAR to weak.

[spidergoat]

Metal is a very common substance. Making anything large out of carbon fiber might be prohibitively expensive. Also, carbon fiber composites can be broken down by UV light.

Iron is one of the most stable kinds of atoms. It is both strong and flexible.

Wasn't aerogel designed to capture space particles? It's not meant for structural applications.

[Betrayer0fHope]

yes but what do you think of aerogel?

do you have any notion of money?

[skaught]

do you have any notion of money?

He's a multi-billionaire, he has no concept of such.